Wildlands (rskde & BurningWillows)

[Risky]

Vanessa follows Nicki, her heart dropping into her stomach as they start to search. "Where could she have gone..?" She asks, looking around still. "Shit, Collin's gonna be pissed.." She says as they start to comb the whole market for the little she-devil.

 

[BurningWillows]

"Who cares if Collin's pissed, my best friend is missing!" Nicki snapped, anxious and worried, "I'm...I'm sorry. It's just this is Willow. She wouldn't do this as a joke. She loves pranks, but this is too cruel even for her. Collin's not just going to be pissed Vanessa. He's going to be terrified. They mean everything to each other. WILLOW?! WILLOW WHERE ARE YOU?!"

 

[Risky]

Vanessa bites the bottom of her lip before speaking. "Nicki, be quiet." She says before taking the beanie from her. "Willow never takes this thing off.. She would never leave it anywhere.. She was taken Nicki, so if you keep yelling then we'll be next." She says. "We need to get out of here, before whoever took Willow comes for us, we can grab the boys and come back, but we can't risk ourselves and all of the food."

 

[BurningWillows]

Nicki looks at her, tears brimming her eyes, but she nods. She's completely right. Too right in fact, and all her yelling could've just given them away. Grabbing Vanessa's hand she bolts with her, the two running out. Nicki doesn't break their pace till they are within sight of the house, Iris jumping up and looking at them with a crazy expression, not expecting to see them outside the house. The minute they reach the front lawn Nicki collaspes to her knees, gasping for air as tears sting her eyes, letting go of Vanessa's hand so she can catch her breath too.

"What's going on here?" Iris asked, confused.

"Get...Collin..."Nicki gasped, looking up at the other brunette, the fear imminent in her face.

Iris didn't hesitate. She turned on her heel and bolted through the house and into the backyard, breaking up the training session.

"Collin," she breathed, pointing at the back door, "Vanessa and Nicki just came from...somewhere. Hell if I know, they are back and look terrified. Nicki asked for you."

 

[Risky]

Collin nods to Iris and walks through the house to the front where he spots Vanessa and Nicki. He kneels down next to them, his eyebrows raised in confusion. "What happened?" He asks.

 

[BurningWillows]

Iris follows at his heels, noticing the guys doing the same, a crowd building at the front door, not wanting to intrude but all eager to know what was happening.

Nicki gulped in air, her body shaking from the weight of her words, "We...uh, we thought the three of us could go do a supply run, so you and the guys wouldn't have to. We got to that grocery store you told me about and while we were there..."

She looked up at Vanessa, begging her to help her say the words stuck in her throat, knowing it would hurt him to find out his baby sister was missing.

 

[Risky]

"Willow was taken by someone.. Or something, we don't know, we couldn't see it." She explains, handing Collin the beanie. "We're really sorry Collin, we figured we all could go back and look for her." She offers.

I've lost her again...

"Everybody gear up, we're going to the market." He says to the people behind him, walking inside with everyone to get their gear sorted before walking back out, ready to go when everybody is ready.

When everyone is ready they start moving, cutting down the fifteen minute walk to an eight minute jog, getting to the market easily.

 

[BurningWillows]

When they get back to the market Vanessa and Nicki beeline for the spot they found her beanie, having already handed it to Collin. Nicki's waiting for the worst, knowing he was remaining cool on the outside, but was probably imploding on the inside. She'd already seen him at the beginning of all this, when Willow wasn't in the apartment like she should be. He acted so calm and collected, while underneath he was struggling to breath, worried his little sister might be dead.

And this wasn't the first time Willow had gone missing. When they were five and seven -making Collin fourteen- he had taken them to the park because Mrs. and Mr. Wetsworth were busy cleaning and Nicki's parents had sent her over to play. The park was huge, and like any fourteen year old, he didn't really want to be a kid's playground on a Saturday, babysitting two little girls. So he wasn't paying attention and Nicki had gotten split up from Willow by some bully on the park, who was trying to pull her hair. Nicki had ran back to Collin crying, and when he'd settled the bully out he realized Willow was missing. They searched and searched but she wasn't in the park, and Nicki could still remember the panicked look on his face, suddenly realizing his little sister wasn't just an annoyance. He loved her, and they spent hours combing the streets for her. When they finally did get back to the house to hang their heads in shame...surpise surprise Willow was there. She'd skinned her knee and since Collin wasn't paying attention to her the five year old's thought was to go home, so mommy could kiss it better.

Nicki wasn't sure if it was that day, or later on that the two siblings became each other's rocks. She just knew that these days Willow would do anything for her brother, and never doubted that he wouldn't do the same. A part of Nicki was jealous of that. She didn't have siblings, so Willow was the closest thing she had, and still she wasn't as close as Willow and Collin. And that was why out of everyone Nicki knew Collin would be able to find her. He would stop at nothing to do so, and so would Nicki.

"I found her beanie on the ground here," she explained, and Vanessa was down the aisle there, uh mumbling to herself over food. Willow must have heard and tried to sneak up on Vanessa or something, so she never noticed her get pulled away. And over here-"

She led the group to the abandoned cart two aisles over, "We all picked different sections, so she had to of left her cart here to sneak up. I was still several aisles over, I didn't hear or see anything."

 

[BurningWillows]

While Nicki was leading the group Iris grabbed Andrew and pulled him off to the side, looking concerned. They walked until they were out of earshot but still in the line of sight.

"When we were coming in I spotted a security room," she whispered, "Should we check and see if the EMP got this far too?"

Without waiting for an answer she snuck off, some part of her knowing he'd come. She caught Blake looking and nodded towards the front of the store, signaling with her hand that they'd be back in ten. Then they were off, back to the front and through a door labelled security. Iris let out a long whistle, looking at the wreckage inside.

"Well, whether it worked or not, someone took the time to disable all alarms and cameras," she sighed, staring at the mess of cut wires and destroyed electronics, "I've seen enough T.V to know this was a deliberate set up. No one could of put all the effort into destroying this room unless they purposely wanted something."

She bent down, looking at the wires, and the labels attached to them, "All alarms are cut, including the fire exit doors. So someone planned their escape route. What if that's why this place is untouched? Lure innocent people trying to survive in here and then take them...for...for what?"

Iris was smart enough to know the whole country hadn't been damned, and she was sure there if they got far enough they'd cross back into safe territory. But New York State had become a war zone, as had probably many more states, and it was as if with the attack of the UN, everyone had forgotten laws, and moral decency. Luring and kidnapping people? What the fuck was going on?

"We should head back and tell them what we found," she stood up, "Maybe if we find the fire exit they used, there might be more clues."

 

[BurningWillows]

Dakota got off the radio, a little saddened that it was so short. But at least she finally could get a hold of Vanessa. She had wanted to tell her more, about what she had seen. What she'd found. But it would have to wait, maybe a little bit longer, maybe until she could get back to them.

"Everything alright ma'am?" a voice called in, interrupting her thoughts as she jumped up, clicking the radio into her belt and opening the door to her room.

"Yeah," she shrugged, "Just trying to get a hold of some people. You need something?"

"Meetings startin'," he was only about fourteen, with a thick accent and acne covered skin, but he had a soft smile, "Making sure you don' miss it."

"Thanks kid," she ruffled his hair as she closed the door behind her, locking it and following him away.

 

[Risky]

Andrew listens to her, nodding every once in awhile while she speaks. "Yeah, someone definitely set this up." He says, looking around at the wiring in front of him as if trying to fix it within his mind. He stands up and looks back at her. "We should report this." He says.

 

[BurningWillows]

"Lead the way," she offers, letting him out first then following behind. She really didn't want to be the bearer of this bad news, unsure how long Collin's "calm and collected" attitude would last knowing his sister was kidnapped.

 

[Risky]

Collin sighs when he hears Andrew's news, he bites the bottom of his lip before nodding. "You guys go home, Nicki and I will keep searching, we have a knack for finding Willow." He says to them before walking out of the store itself, searching around the perimeter for his little sisters' whereabouts.

 

[BurningWillows]

Iris leads the group out, her head bent down in defeat. A part of her feels like crying, knowing this was failure. They had lost their youngest charge, and worst yet she was on guard duty when it happened. She shuffled forward, feeling low about it all.

Nicki followed him out, looking around wildly, "They said fire exits. So we look for fire exits right?"

Her head swivelled around left and right, trying to catch any sign of movement. Turned out, the superstore only had two exits, and one had rubble piled up against it, obviously purposeful. The other showed signs of being used, the ground underneath it scratched by the door. But it only led into the deserted parking lot, and there was no clues, no signs, nothing of Willow.

"I fucked up!" she snapped, her heart breaking when they reached another dead end, "I fucked up and now she's gone. I shouldn't have listened to her. We should of stuck together."

Without really asking she leaned her head into his chest, subconsciously seeking comfort in the man she'd been sneaking off to see for days and days now. She hadn't meant to, knowing he hadn't really shown much in the way of affection towards her, but she just needed a hug.

 

[Risky]

He wraps his arms around her, rubbing her back lightly as he speaks to her. "It's gonna be okay Nicki, you did nothing wrong.. We'll find her, I promise." He says to her quietly, resting his head against hers as he continues to hold her.

 

[BurningWillows]

Nicki sighed into his shoulder, comforted by the hug, "But how did niether of us hear or see anything? She was...was feet from Vanessa and she didn't even notice her there. What if she's in pain?"

Willow woke with a jolt, trying to sit up but ending up only rolling to her side, her wrists bound behind her back. When she tried to move her legs she found her ankles tied too, and even screaming in frustration had been stripped from her, a gag in her mouth.

Seriously?

She looked around, noticing quickly she wasn't alone. She lay beside a log sitting near a fire, and ten other people were circled around it or pacing, all of them holding a heated discussion.

"We did what we set up to do!" one snapped, "Now we have to finish the job."

"We didn't set out to kidnap children!" another complained, "She's probably going to be terrified when she wakes."

The fact they didn't know she was awake was indeed a stroke of luck and Willow quickly closed her eyes. If they didn't see her awake they'd continue talking.

"She won't get hurt if everything goes according to plan," a deeper voice snapped, "We do it tonight, before her group gets closer to finding us. Surprise is our element."

"Fine," another woman snapped, "C'mon Linda, we did all we could."

Willow peeked out and noticed three women leaving, and about seven men stayed, most of them finding spots around the campfire to keep warm, the conversation moving away from Willow for a bit. As the day wore on people came and left, until one of the conversations turned back to her.

"She looks too old to be a kid," one of them commented, having being drinking for an hour now.

"They weren't sure of her age, but she doesn't look over twenty."

"Girls these days can be twenty two and look sixteen. I bet you she's over eighteen."

"Why does it matter?"

"Because that tight piece of ass-"

"Whoa," one of the other men cut him off, "Dude we don't rape."

"I don't want to rape nobody!" the drunk guy yelled, "I was just saying if she's a teen she's dressing rather prova-provo- slutty...she's dressing slutty."

Willow tried to swallow the bile rising in her throat, hating the conversation. All she was wearing were jeans, a tank top and her leather jacket. How was that provocative? Fucking drunk people.

It only went on for a few more minutes before their drunken minds moved on to the differences between chickens and turkeys, but she had a knot in her stomach. Willow didn't want to be around these men, or this group. She wanted her freedom. She wanted to go home.

 

[Risky]

He just keeps holding her, closing his eyes for a moment. "I don't know.." He says to her quietly. "I'm as scared as you are Nicki.. I don't know what's going to happen." He says to her softly.

Blake puts his arm around Iris, holding her as he speaks. "It wasn't your fault Iris, you couldn't have known." He says to her quietly, rubbing her shoulder as he speaks in an attempt to comfort her.

Andrew sees Blake and Iris, a flare of jealousy hitting him hard. He clenches his fist before looking away, clenching his teeth together.

 

[BurningWillows]

"I guess standing out here hugging won't help her much either," Nicki sighed.

The clouds had been rolling in for a couple hours now, and as they spoke the rain began to drizzle. Nicki was only in a t-shirt and she pulled back as the rain began to pitter-patter against the parking lot pavement.

"We should go back to the house and dress for the weather," Nicki exclaimed, "Wandering around aimlessly in the rain with no coats will only give us hypothermia."

The arm snaking around her was at first unwelcome, but his words are only trying to comfort her, and he's not being creepy, but that calm nice boy she had met in the restaurant. The one her parents had talked about, not the other side of him she'd seen in the first few days after the siege. While she didn't want to admit it, she liked the comforting touch and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder as they walked, trying to feel a little less lousy.

 

[Risky]

He smiles when she leans into his embrace, walking with her the whole way home. He lets her go when they get to the house, unsure if she wanted him near her anymore.

He nods, noticing the bad weather rolling in. "We should.. But first.. Have you ever kissed in the rain?" He asks her. "It's actually pretty romantic." He offers, his arm still around her as they start walking.

 

[BurningWillows]

"Blake," she murmurs as he steps away once they are inside, "I'm in desperate need of some coffee, with all this stress I'd love a cup. Care to join me, and we can talk while the kettle runs? Maybe brainstorm ideas to find Willow or something, ya know?"

"No I haven't," she admitted, "But this isn't the time. I'm too worried about Willow and I know you are too. Distracting yourself with kissing me won't help your sister, or us. C'mon Collin, there will always be more rain."

They got back to the house ten minutes after the rest of them, and just in time as the rain became a storm, lashing down so it was near impossible to see through it.

"We are going to have to wait it out a bit," Nicki sighed as she looked through the kitchen window, and Iris nodded, holding a coffee while she stood beside Blake, quietly chatting.

"We wait until it eases up enough for us to see, then we head out. Whoever took her won't be moving in this weather either, so its not like we are losing them by staying here."

 

[Risky]

"Right." He says quietly, walking with her for the entire way. "You're right." He says as they walk, walking with her inside before nodding, walking upstairs go grab a jacket and wipe his hair with a towel to dry off.

He makes her a coffee and one for himself too, handing it to her before leaning against the counter, speaking to her quietly. "I made it with a little bit of sugar and some creamer, I hope you like it." He says quietly, watching her take a sip.

 

[BurningWillows]

Nicki excuses herself to go change into dry clothes. She ends up locking herself in Willow's room, taking a shower to clean the rain water off, then finding clean clothes and pulling them on. She felt tired and groggy but she refused to sleep, refused to do anything until her best friend was safe. Instead she head back downstairs and found a chair, sitting down by the front window and just watching the rain, waiting for it to let up.

Iris thanked him, watching Nicki leave before sipping her coffee.

"I almost want to feel bad for drinking coffee while Willow's out there, but what else do we do? I need coffee to stay awake so we can think this out. Like who took her and why? How'd they slip her out without any noise? It had to be someone skilled enough, thats not a trait you just pick up."

 

[Risky]

He nods. "Yeah, and if they weren't UN, then why would they be going for us?" He asks, taking a sip of coffee. "There were no troop vessels or anything around, so it couldn't have been troops." He says before rubbing the back of his head in thought.

 

[BurningWillows]

"You're right," she murmured, sipping the coffee again, "Mmmm this is good. Thank you. So we can rule out UN. The trick to trap them inside and then yank one out, not all three. It seemed to be an awfully planned set up, and if they are taking prisoners, why not Vanessa and Nicki too? Why not just surround the grocery store and demand them to come out? You're right Blake, this doesn't sound like the UN at all. But then who the hell is?"

 

[Risky]

"Thanks, I've mastered the making of coffee." He admits with a chuckle. "Maybe scavengers? They saw her as a vulnerable target and went for her, trying to see if she had anything.. Or maybe they want her for something else.. Ambush us maybe? Bait us out and hit us while we're confused." He says before placing his cup down on the counter, furrowing his eyebrows in thought.